This tea is one of the maltier versions of a jinjunmei I have had. The first time I had it I used my standard method for jinjunmei’s ( boiling water 5-10s steeps) and the tea overpowered me with the tart upper tones of malt so this time I steeped 1 tsp at closer to 90°C for @1 minute.
The result was a tea that smelled of smoke spice, cocoa, honey, cream, plum.
It yielded a flavour full of grainy notes mixed with cocoa, caramel and a light dose of wood smoke, with hints of malt and plum and cream.
This is a tea where temperature matters. If brewed at higher temperatures this tea becomes very malty and the cocoa and caramel notes are masked. Caramel and plum notes strengthen as it cools. The tea has a nice full body and is heavier in body than many of the Fujian blacks I have had.
The 2nd steep( 2minutes) tasted of malt, caramel, cocoa, plum, and smokey notes with grain accents.
The 3rd steep was similar.
This tea could easily yield more steeps.
The leaf is very similar to the picture with dark blades with golden tips and buds scattered throughout and had a smell of molasses malt and cocoa.
Although I prefer the other teas I have from this seller. This is a nice, good value, malty tea.
I definitely prefer it brewed at lower temperatures where the malt is balanced by the other flavours.
